1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data services in a wireless communication network and, more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for processing and presenting data from a mobile terminal on a television monitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Demands for data service over wireless communication networks have been steadily increasing, as users of mobile phones are no longer satisfied with making only voice calls. Due to their physical constraints, mobile phones are provided with limited display screen surface, input keys, memory, processing power, and battery power. Consequently, their ability to receive, transmit and display data messages is limited.
Various prior art solutions have been devised to overcome these shortcomings. For example, the GSM system provides a service known as the Short Messaging Service (SMS) that allows its subscribers to receive and transmit short data messages (e.g., less than about 100 octets of bits) using their mobile terminals. The data messages are stored in a central location, i.e., the Short Message Service Center (SMSC), to buffer messages. More recently, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) has been developed to provide advanced data services to mobile users. These WAP services include, for example, online banking, electronic shopping, access to corporate database, stock trading and games, etc.
Since WAP is a recent development, the percentage of WAP-enabled mobile terminals in use is small as compared to that of older, non-WAP enabled phones (e.g., Nokia models 21xx, 31xx, 51xx and 61xx). As a result, the customer base for WAP data services is relatively small, and service providers are reluctant to create more WAP services. However, the customer base can be increased more efficiently by enabling users of non-WAP-enable terminals to have access to WAP services, thereby accelerating the development of more and varied WAP services. In addition, there are customer groups, e.g. people with impared vision who are not able to use ordinary mobile phones. For them, this kind of TV based user interface would be very valuable.